The Broken Window Theory By Wilson And Kelling

499 Words2 Pages

The “Broken Windows” theory is a police patrol strategy that was created by Wilson and Kelling and this strategy falls under order maintenance policing (Fritsch, Liederbach, Taylor & Caeti, 2009, pg. 22). The tittle “Broken Windows” comes from the title of an essay that Wilson and Kelling published in the Atlantic on 1982 and the meaning behind the tittle is that when there is building that has a broken window, it means that nobody cares, which will lead to more broken windows if the first broken window is not fixed right away (Kelling, 2015, pg. 57). Kelling and Wilson believed that the same problems that broken windows can produce if they are not fixed right away can also be applicable to crime, therefore the broken windows theory strategy assumes that if the police places more emphasis towards small disorderly offenses and is more proactive towards preventing it, then it will also reduce the quantity of other crimes that are more serious (Fritsch et al., 2009, pg. 22). Small disorderly offenses can be offenses such as …show more content…

59). One of the strengths of the theory is that it seeks to create a sense of order within communities to show the citizens that the police actually cares about what is going on within their communities, which will make the citizens feel safer within their own communities and deter crime (Kelling, 2015, pg. 58). Order can raise the quality of life for the citizens and it can also attract new businesses to come to the community, which will bring new job opportunities for the citizens. One of the disadvantages of the theory is that it is often misunderstood by police departments, which will produce negative outcomes (Kelling, 2015, pg. 58). The intend that Wilson and Kelling had was to allow

Open Document